Can I sleep train my four month old?

20 Apr

Four months is such a tricky age - your baby hits the four month regression where sometimes even the best sleepers can go from lovely long blocks to waking every hour. It’s at this point you might find yourself pulling your hair out and googling sleep training at 3am.

Sleep training isn’t advised before six months - before that age babies aren’t able to regulate themselves and haven’t developed the attachment they need to be able to learn to sleep independently.

However, this doesn’t mean you need to just grin and bear it and get through the next two months until your baby hits six months when you can go hard with some real ‘sleep training’, there is plenty you can do in the meantime to get them to a better place with sleep.

These include:

Ensure they’re having lovely full feeds during the day and limiting how much they’re drinking at night
Having a solid bedtime routine
Giving them time to settle themselves (talking 30 seconds - 2 minutes, not a prolonged period of time)
Ensuring they’re having enough day time sleep - right length, right wake windows and in the right place

You should also be reviewing their sleep hygiene and checking this is on point - their sleep space is the right temperature, black out blinds, white noise, sleep space clear of mobiles, toys etc.

There are some sleep support techniques you can use to encourage your baby to sleep independently but these don’t involve crying.

There is plenty you can do to get your baby sleeping well before six months without having to ‘sleep train’.

If you want to find out how I can help you, get in touch today.